Shaft (album)

Infobox Album |
Name = Shaft
Type =Soundtrack
Artist = Isaac Hayes


Released = July 1971
Recorded = 1971
Stax Recording Studios
(Memphis, Tennessee)
Genre = Soul
Length = 69:29
Label = Enterprise
ENS-2-5002
Producer = Isaac Hayes
Reviews =
*"All About Jazz" (favorable) [http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=22298 link]
*Allmusic Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:umf6zfihehak~T1 link]
*Robert Christgau (C+) [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=Isaac+Hayes link]
*"Mojo" (favorable) [http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/6605769/a/Shaft.htm link]
*"Q" Rating|4|5 [http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/6605769/a/Shaft.htm link]
*Warr.org Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.warr.org/isaac.html#Shaft link]
*Yahoo! Music (favorable) [http://music.yahoo.com/read/review/12058702 link]
Last album ="...To Be Continued"
(1971)
This album = "Shaft"
(1971)
Next album ="Black Moses"
(1971)

"Shaft" is a double album by Isaac Hayes, recorded for Stax Records' Enterprise label as the soundtrack LP for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's 1971 blaxploitation film "Shaft". The album is comprised mostly of instrumentals composed by Hayes as score for the film. Three vocal selections are included: "Soulsville", "Do Your Thing", and "Theme from "Shaft"". A commercial and critical success, "Shaft" is Hayes' best-known work and the best-selling LP ever released on a Stax label.

Conception

Hayes initially became involved with "Shaft" in hopes of having director Gordon Parks cast him in the title role, but was not aware that Richard Roundtree had already been cast as John Shaft. Hayes did appear in the film in a cameo role, but, more significantly, composed the film's score. While the film was still in production, Parks sent Hayes raw footage of some of the film's scenes, and Hayes wrote three pieces for the scenes: "Theme from "Shaft" for the opening title sequence, "Soulsville" for a scene in which Shaft walks through Harlem, and "Ellie's Love Theme" for a love scene.Bowman, Rob (1997). Soulsville U.S.A.: The Story of Stax Records. New York: Schirmer Trade. p.229-233 ISBN 0825672848]

Pleased with the results, MGM hired Hayes to compose the rest of the score, and the musician spent two months working between tour dates on the score at the MGM studio. Once the score was composed and arranged, Hayes recorded the rhythm tracks with Stax band The Bar-Kays in one day. The orchestral tracks were recorded the next day, and the vocals the day after that. The songs were later re-recorded for the album at Stax Studios and slightly rearranged from their film versions: MGM's recording facility was based upon a three-track system, and Hayes wanted a richer sound for the album).

Reception

Upon its release in the summer of 1971, "Shaft" became the first double album of original studio material released by an R&B artist. The album peaked at number one on The Billboard 200 chart, and spent sixty weeks on the chart. Both "Theme from "Shaft" and "Do Your Thing" became Top 40 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, with the former peaking at number one.

At the 1972 Grammy Awards, "Theme from "Shaft" won the awards for Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical and Best Instrumental Arrangement. The film score as a whole won for Best Instrumental Composition Written Specifically For A Motion Picture or for Television. The National Association of Television and Radio Announcers gave "Shaft" its Album of the Year award. At the Academy Awards that year, Hayes became the first African-American to win an Oscar for a non-acting category when "Theme from "Shaft" won the award for Best Original Song.

Track listing

"All songs written and produced by Isaac Hayes."

ide one

#"Theme from "Shaft"" (Vocal Version) – 4:39
#"Bumpy's Lament" – 1:51
#"Walk from Regio's" – 2:24
#"Ellie's Love Theme" – 3:18
#"Shaft's Cab Ride" – 1:10

ide two

#"Cafe Reggio's" – 6:10
#"Early Sunday Morning" – 3:49
#"Be Yourself" – 4:30
#"A Friend's Place" – 3:24

ide three

#"Soulsville" (Vocal Version) – 3:48
#"No Name Bar" – 6:11
#"Bumpy's Blues" – 4:04
#"Shaft Strikes Again" – 3:04

ide four

#"Do Your Thing" (Vocal Version) – 19:30
#"The End Theme" – 1:56

Credits

*Vocals, keyboards, lyrics and arrangement by Isaac Hayes
*Backing vocals by Pat Lewis, Rose Williams, and Telma Hopkins
*Instrumentation by The Bar-Kays and The Isaac Hayes Movement
**Electric piano by Lester Snell
**Bass guitar by James Alexander
**Guitar by Charles Pitts
**Guitar by Michael Toles
**drums by Bernard Purdie
**Conga drums by Gary Jones
**Lead Trumpet by Richard "Johnny" Davis
**Flute by John Fonville

Awards and charts

"Billboard" charts

Album

ingles

Grammy Awards

*"Shaft"
**Best Instrumental Composition Written Specifically For A Motion Picture or for Television (Isaac Hayes)
*"Theme from "Shaft"
** Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical (Dave Purple, Henry Bush, Ron Capone)
** Best Instrumental Arrangement (Isaac Hayes, Johnny Allen)

Later Samples

*"No Name Bar"
**"Soulja's Story" by 2Pac from the album "2Pacalypse Now"

*"Bumpy's Lament"
**"Xxplosive" by Dr. Dre from the album "2001"

*"Walk from Regio's"
**"On the Double" by Grooverider from the album "Mysteries of Funk"

Footnotes